Joe Lycett "didn't feel welcome" in the workplace as a queer man.
Joe Lycett on how he found comedy
The 34-year-old stand-up - who identifies as pansexual and therefore claims to be attracted to all genders - explained that he turned to a career in comedy because he had a "lack of respect" towards institutions and felt "culturally excluded."
He said: "I think if I'm really honest [my comedy] comes from a queer place. The working world, I didn't feel like would welcome someone like me, who wants to dress a bit different and be a bit sort of over the top. And institutions and things like that, I didn't have a lot of respect for in a way that maybe other people did. I felt culturally excluded."
The '8 Out of 10 Cats' star - who is known for parodying the government as part of his act - went on to explain that his job is to make institutions look "silly" through his work and intends to keep doing so for as long as he can.
Speaking on ITV's 'Lorraine', he told stand-in host Ranvir Singh: "But also, I see a lot of institutions - the government being one of them at the minute - who maybe don't serve people properly and treat people with respect and sort of treat them with a lack of dignity and so my job as a comedian is to go 'That's bad, isn't it?' and make it look silly and look daft. And I'll keep doing that for as long as I can!"
Tagged in Lorraine Kelly